Why We Love Lady and The Tramp

We were recently asked if we could do some digging for them and find out what the ‘secrets’ are for this classic Disney film, so here it is!

1. It was written by a woman

This may not come as much of a surprise to many people but the writer of Lady and The Tramp , Jenny Wingfield, was actually female. She also wrote another famous Disney film called The Parent Trap (1961). .

2. There were plans for more films with Tony & Peppermint

According to John Lasseter (Toy Story & Toy Story 2), there was originally plans at Walt Disney Studios to make more films with these two characters. Unfortunately no other films were ever created but he still holds out hope that one day this may happen.

3. The Disney Studio kept delaying the release date

The film was originally scheduled for a Summer 45 release, but due to issues with Walt Disney Studios they delayed it until Fall of ’55. You can see in some images of backstage footage that even during production on this film there were still signs advertising Lady and The Tramp as an upcoming summer feature. Lasseter also said that the reason why the movie never made it out in time for that summer was because they ran into problems animating one sequence (when Jock & Trusty save Tony). It required more work than anticipated so they would’ve had to delay it further if Walt didn’t like the scene the way it was (he apparently did). .

4. Lady and The Tramp was one of the first Disney animated films to use actors for reference

Lasseter also says that this film was one of Walt’s favorites because it has a very strong focus on story, catchy music and truly lovable characters. He also claims that this is the film where he took storytelling to another level by using actors as reference for animating certain scenes. This can be seen in both Jock & Trusty but mainly with the two main characters, Lady and The Tramp themselves. .

5. There are pinball machines inspired by Lady and The Tramp

According to Lasseter, there are actually authentic vintage pinball machines still around today which were inspired by this classic animated feature film. You can check out the fan-made video below to see it in action. .

6. Walt Disney didn’t want anything cut from this movie (even when the head animator did)

One of the animators for this film, Huck Gee, claims that Walt was against any cuts being made even if an animation sequence needed fixing. He also went onto say that he enjoyed working on this film because it would usually be done by lunchtime or earlier (he really liked to work fast). Fun Fact: Huck also worked on various other projects like Star Wars and Superman, so I think we can safely call him a true veteran within the industry. .

7. Carl Stalling wrote the music for Lady and The Tramp

Last but not least, the music for this film was actually written by a guy called Carl Stalling who worked on various other Disney films such as Jungle Book (1942), Pinocchio (1940) and Bambi (1942). He also wrote musical scores for Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies too!

8. The right paw of Tramp has 5 digits while the left only has 4

If you pause on certain scenes of Lady and The Tramp, you can see that Tramp on his right hand actually has a thumb whereas his left only has four fingers. This is because animators drew him with five but they accidentally left out the extra digit when they replicated it across to his other hand. .

9. Walt Disney threatened to fire the director of Lady and The Tramp

There was a lot of problems with the initial storyboard which lead to several delays. During that time, Walt visited the animation studio many times and criticized them heavily for not being on schedule. Animators claimed that he even threatened to fire director Wilfred Jackson but apparently none of this matters because Walt still loved him deeply, even after he retired from working at Disney in 1972. .

10. A sequel called Lady and The Tramp II: Scamps Adventure was released in 2001

A direct-to-video animated film called Lady and The Tramp II: Scamps Adventure (2001) was actually released 13 years later by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment division. It takes place after the first film and focuses on their mischievous puppy, Scamp.